|
SocGen nixes final BNP bid
|
 |
July 12, 1999: 11:56 a.m. ET
Investors set to rule on bitter three-way French bank battle
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Société Générale stuck to its guns Monday, refusing to bow to the latest takeover offer from bitter rival BNP. The group also effectively ruled out an improved offer of its own for Paribas.
SocGen's board rejected an improved offer from BNP made on July 1, echoing the rejection of the offer from Paribas, which came Friday.
BNP made joint bids worth $37 billion for SocGen (PGLE) and Paribas (PPM) in March, in an attempt to disrupt an agreed merger between the two.
The battle has raged since then. It now appears investors will have to choose between the competing offers. The offers are due to close at the end of July, unless a new bid appears. In that case the timetable would shift into August.
The Bank of France made clear its preference for a combination of all three banks as a sort of national champion, but Paribas and SocGen refused to be pushed into a three-way tie.
Bolstering its bid for independence, SocGen also claimed that its profit in the first half of 1999 would be more than twice the 4.1 billion francs it earned in the first six months of last year. The bank gave no numbers, however.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
